


We Don't Matter Anymore

by spaghettideviant



Series: Vanished [1]
Category: Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 1: Red Queen, Book 2: Glass Sword, Book 3: King's Cage, Book 4: War Storm, F/M, Victoria aveyard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 03:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14866131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaghettideviant/pseuds/spaghettideviant
Summary: Mare Barrow struggles in a final battle against her greatest enemy, Maven Calore.A short, one-shot alternate ending to War Storm by Victoria Aveyard





	We Don't Matter Anymore

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!  
> I haven't seen any alternate endings yet, so I wanted to write one  
> (MAJOR WAR STORM SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT)
> 
>  
> 
> I've seen a post on tumblr by quiteliterallyinthis that was what they wanted Maven's death to be like. I enjoyed the idea of Maven accepting his death rather than fighting with mare in the way that he did, so I used that post to fuel my need to write this. (BUT I NEEDED MAVEN TO LIVE OK)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> I loved the ending, and I love marecal so so so so much and I love victoria aveyard  
> But I've been team Maven since book one.  
> I have always ALWAYS wanted them to end up together  
> so i've written that :)
> 
>  
> 
> This starts in chapter 37 of war storm (like i wrote this while having the book propped open next to me) so the first bit is all written by Victoria Aveyard and I DO NOT TAKE CREDIT FOR THE BEGINNING 3 PARAGRAPHS. This is merely a fanfiction. What I wished happened instead of what actually happened in canon.  
> Enjoy!

“Very well.”

The dagger cuts at my throat, swiping with vicious and blistering speed. I lean backward, dodging the blow without thought. He keeps coming, keeps slicing, saying nothing. My body reacts before my brain, all instinct as I deflect his strikes. I’m faster than he is, and my arms swing in time with his movements, catching his wrists before he can do any damage with the tiny, wicked gleam of sharp iron. 

I have nothing except my own fists and feet. My focus is on keeping the dagger away from my skin, and I barely land any blows of my own. I twist, trying to trip him with a hooked ankle, but he steps neatly over the attempt. My first mistake, leaving my back exposed. I move as he does, and a stab for my lungs becomes a long but shallow gash across my side. Hot, red blood wells up, filling the air with a copper tang.

Ignoring the spreading pain, I jab at his throat with a closed fist, hitting hard. He wheezes and stumbles, dropping to a knee. I strike again, kicking him across the jaw. The momentum sends him sideways, his eyes wide and dazed as he spits silver blood in all directions. If not for the dagger, I would use the opportunity to get my arms around his throat and squeeze until his body is cold.

The sound of the dagger clattering against the stone floor catches me by surprise, and I brace myself for Maven’s fist, waiting for a blow that never comes. Instead, he falls, sinking from his knee to his back, laying on his elbows. I blink for a second before scrambling for the knife, feeling the warm metal in my bloody palms and raising it slightly before stepping towards him.

My heart drops in my chest, and I lower the blade.

Tears well in Maven’s eyes as he stares at me, his breathing slowing and becoming more steady. I take another few steps, closing the distance between us before dropping to my knees beside him. He sits up with great effort, struggling to keep himself balanced. The first tear falls, and it streaks through the silver blood coating the lower half of his face. 

“I’m sorry, Mare.” He smiles at me through bloody teeth as he starts to sob. A heartbreaking sight.

I don’t have to ask to know what he means. Not for hurting me just now, but for everything that’s happened to me. For Shade, for Cal, for Kilorn and the rest of my family. He’s sorry for what he’s done to me.  For using me, for betraying me. For branding me, for capturing me. For making me love him.

“I know,” I whisper, dropping the knife to hold his face in my hands. I know what this means, that he wants me to kill him. To end his life. He’s okay with it.  _ He deserves it. _ I tell myself, before whispering something damning. I finally notice the tears rolling down my own cheeks as I let the words fall from my mouth. “I’m sorry, Maven.”

He presses his hand to my face, his smile reaching his eyes. Though his features are plagued with tears and sadness his eyes are somehow happy. “I know.” I pull his face to mine with agonizing slowness, looking into his eyes.

My kiss surprises us both.

Maven stares at me through wide eyes before shutting them, moving his hand from my face to my neck, the other reaching out to grip my shoulder, somehow pulling me closer. I deepen the kiss,  _ needing _ to be with him in this moment, kissing him desperately. Hungrily. I need him. I want him. It’s a strange realization to have given the circumstances, but I do.  _ I love him. _

Despite everything that has happened between us, I have always loved Maven Calore.

He breaks the kiss first, and I hear myself sob at the loss of contact. I move my hands from his face to my mouth, trying to mask my wails. I watch him as he shifts, picking up the dagger with trembling fingers. I should react, but I continue to watch him until he reaches his free hand to one of mine, removing it from my face and placing the knife in my open palm.

I look at the weapon through clouded eyes, unable to move as Maven closes my fingers around it. He continues to beam at me, his tears lessening as mine fall faster. “I tried, Mare.”

Nodding, I let him move my hand to his chest, angling the dagger just above his heart. “I know.”

Maven shuts his eyes, bracing himself. I try to prepare myself as well, still trembling as my sobs echo throughout the room. I think back on all that has transpired, on every moment I have ever known him. From the forgotten prince to the vindictive king driven by obsession.

To the boy I see now, accepting his own death.

Instead of driving the blade into his chest, as I  _ know _ that I should, I stand quickly, stepping away from him. I think of what he said a few minutes earlier,  _ We don’t matter anymore. _

Slowly, his eyes flutter open, blinking up at me through a tear-filled blue. “Wha-”

“Okay.” I swallow hard, not even wincing as I hear the knife clatter to the ground for a third time. “Let’s run.” I use both of my hands to wipe the tears from my face, rubbing the heels of my palms against my eyes. “Together.”

His mouth hangs open as I extend my hand to him, offering to help him up.  _ Even I can’t believe that I’m doing this. _

“Mare,” he begins, taking my hand and allowing me to pull him up to stand in front of me. “I don’t…” He continues to blink, searching my face for some hint of a lie. “I don’t deserve-”

“You don’t deserve anything but death, Maven.” I laugh a little, shaking my head. “But you’re absolutely right. We don’t matter.” I think briefly of Cal, of my family, of what I’m going to leave behind. “Let’s go. I don’t think I want to be around when they try to rebuild this place without a king. To see Cal and Davidson working to fix things and make people see their way.

“A place like that would be extremely nice, and I’ll miss Kilorn and my family in Montfort, but I-” I search for the right words. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

He tilts his head, confused as a few tears escape his eyes again. “You don’t want to do  _ what _ anymore?”

“This.” I wave my hands around, gesturing to the room of Silent Stone, and the world beyond it, the fighting that I know is still going on. “I can’t do any of this anymore. I want…” I stare up at him, continuing to let the tears trail down my cheeks. “I need you.”

He furrows his brow, not understanding what I’m saying. I don’t struggle with the words, letting them tumble from my mouth. I speak only the truth. Only what I feel. “I don’t want you to die. If I don’t kill you here, you can’t stay. You have to keep running, because Davidson, Cal, and my entire family will  _ not _ let you live, no matter the circumstances. In order for you to live, you have to go.

“But I don’t want you to. I want you to stay with me, to  _ be  _ with me. And I…” He blinks at me, finally starting to smile again. “I don’t want to go home if it means I’ll never see you again. I’ve missed you.”

I search his face, trying to see some kind of deceit in his features. I know Maven, and I know that he could use this opportunity to use me again. To get him out of here alive and away from danger, only so he can turn on me in the end. 

My smile matches his as I don’t find any trace of a lie.

“I’ve missed you, too,” He says, stepping towards me a little. “We can go, if that’s what you want.”

“What do  _ you _ want?” I ask, completely closing the distance between us.

He sighs, raising a hand to run his fingers through the tangled, bloody ends of my hair. He admires the color, feeling the purple strands between his thumb and pointer finger. “I want you.”

My arms find his neck as I throw myself against him, holding him tightly and feeling the warmth of his body against mine. He wraps his arms around my lower back, burying his head into the crook of my neck.

There are so many reasons not to do this. So many reasons why this is wrong. This is quite possibly the stupidest, most insane thing I have ever done. But still, despite my mind screaming at me to stop, I kiss him again, allowing myself to melt against him.

I will miss my family, but I’ll find someway to write to them. I’ll miss Farley, and even  _ Evangeline _ for whatever reason. But I won’t miss anyone more than I would miss Maven, if he were dead or gone.

He has stopped crying when I pull away from him, grinning widely as I open my mouth to speak again. “You were going somewhere. Where?”

“I don’t know,” Maven begins, wrinkling his nose. “Just away from Archeon. The plan was to use an old, secret, passageway but  _ Iris  _ flooded them. I figured I could hide my face and escape in the midst of chaos.”

I smile, stepping away from him and holding out my hand. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

He takes my hand, entwining our fingers as I pull him from the room, toward the doors across from the ones we entered. I don’t notice as the time passes, or as the walls around us change. As Maven whispers to me, we’re sprinting through the palace, searching for an exit. “I love you, Mare.”

I don’t think about anything else but Maven and our escape. I don’t even think of the small knife we left on the floor of the Silent Stone room. 

“I love you, too.”


End file.
